Mayors Christmas Message

Wednesday, 20 December 2006

Christmas is a very important time of the year for all of us and its important that we all enjoy the festive period in a happy, safe and peaceful manner and that 2007 will provide us with more opportunities to build on the foundations of success we’ve already achieved. As Mayor of the City I intend continuing to do my best to represent all the people of the city by promoting inclusiveness, reconciliation and healing and working to continue providing strong leadership for the people of the city as I believe a lot can be achieved to make our city a safer, cleaner and more pleasant place for the community to live, work and socialise in.

Christmas is a time for giving and receiving, a time for sharing and for caring for each other. Its a time for reaching out the hand of friendship and reconciliation and to making sure all members of our society are included.

This Christmas I am conscious of how much our city is continually changing and evolving. We are now living in a diverse, multi cultural environment with many different communities. It’s important that we embrace this change and appreciate the positive influence of so many different nationalities. There are many immigrants to our city and region who will be spending the festive period far from home and family, it is important that the hand of friendship is extended to them also.

Christmas is above all about family and friends and I’m very much looking forward to spending time with my nearest and dearest. It is important for us all to remember that as well as the happiness of Christmas, it can also be a time of great sadness for many families and it is a time to think about other people who may be feeling lonely or in need of friendship and support. With that in mind I would encourage everyone to remember all our elderly neighbours, relatives and friends. Remember that by just popping in for a chat can make a real difference to someone who may be living alone.

Our Afternoon Tea Dances were extremely popular this year so I know how much our older people enjoy to interact and socialise with one another and really appreciate spending time with people. The combination of good food, music and great company ensured everyone had a fantastic time. I would like to thank all the local schools, businesses and Age Concern who worked with the council to organise each event. I particularly enjoyed seeing how well the young people and older persons interacted with each other. The young people really did themselves proud by dancing, socialising and talking with the older persons and genuinely appreciating the important role they play in society. The events have been really worthwhile and I’m looking forward to working closely with everyone again next year!

Our city has certainly enjoyed plenty of sporting success this year and 2006 will definitely be remembered as the year Derry City Football Club came of age! I was so excited to see them take on Paris Saint Germain - both at the Brandywell and in Paris. I watched them clinch the FAI Cup against St. Patrick’s Athletic and win the League Cup against Shelbourne. I know how much their success has meant to their loyal fan base and it’s made me even more proud to belong to this city. The positive image portrayed of the city and its people has been tremendous and I have no doubt that the teams success has done wonders to promote sport amongst our young people.

Over the past week or so the city centre has been filled with music and song during our Christmas Festival. Music has a wonderful way of uniting people and for me the Season of Goodwill is about bringing everyone together as a community. The city has a wonderful reputation for music and we have a lot of talented musicians and singers. I want people here to feel they belong and regardless of their background, to have a sense of community and ownership within the city. It’s important that everyone has a sense of pride in what we’ve created. So many people have worked tirelessly to make this city a place we can all be proud of and I believe they’ve succeeded.

I am aware of the great amount of work which has been done within the city to unite all our communities and create an environment which everyone can enjoy. Our Christmas Festival was introduced to create a seasonal ambience within the city centre and I know our concerts inside the Guildhall were extremely popular.

The opening night of seasonal music and carols were performed by City of Derry Civic Choirs and the Western Education and Library Board (WELB) Youth Orchestra and the grand finale of Handel’s Messiah was performed by Codetta and the City of Derry Youth Choir with Orchestra and Soloists. It’s difficult not to feel moved by such a rendition and I’m sure everyone who was there would agree it was the perfect evening of music.

Being Mayor of the City of Derry has been a great honour for me. I have met so many people and I have been touched by the great warmth and generosity of spirit which the city represents. I have been particularly impressed by the amount of good work that is going on in our city by the statutory bodies, community and voluntary sectors. I have been delighted to attend so many launches and events over the past six months and amazed at the amount of hard work and organising that has gone into getting these projects off the ground.

There are so many unsung heroes in our city, people who work tirelessly for the benefit of others. I would like to extend a warm thanks to everyone I have met during my first six months in office and thank you all for the warm and friendly welcomes I have received.

I would like to acknowledge the role of our young people. Very often our young people are portrayed in a negative light when in fact the majority of them are good, hard working and intelligent people who are working hard at school, college or in the workplace and are great ambassadors for our city.

As we all join together with our loved ones this Christmas let us all take time out to think of those less fortunate than ourselves and to remember what Christmas is really about. With that in mind I as First Citizen would like to take this opportunity to wish all the citizens of this city and region a very peaceful, holy and safe Christmas.

Ends

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